Palin vs. Biden

What I fail to understand is how liberals can cry foul over the Sarah Palin pick, screeching about how it's purely political, how she's only on the ticket to woo Hillary voters, or women, or moose-hunters, or Eskimo-descended champion snowmobile racers or some other group, that it's impossible that she's on the ticket because she apparently appeals to pretty much everyone and because she's done a hell of a job as governor, and would make a damn good chief executive. Meanwhile, they completely ignore the fact that their own VP pick, Joe Biden, is about as pandering a pick as you'll see.

The pick makes absolutely no sense in terms of Obama's whole "Change" message, in less it is viewed as utterly admitting that Obama has virtually zero in the way of foreign policy credentials, and even less in terms of actual executive experience (not that Biden really helps him there), and therefore Biden was brought on to appeal to older white folks, and/or those people who don't feel comfortable with a President whose only experience is running for president. The Biden choice is as pandering a choice as the Palin pick, but at least Sarah Palin has demonstrated, albeit in a short time, that she can handle any real responsibility, something that neither Joe Biden nor Barack Obama can claim.

Good Stuff

via the Corner, t-shirts and assorted other emblazoned materials available from CafePress

The Palin Effect

One of the more fascinating aspects of the Sarah Palin extravaganza is the inability of even those who seem to detest everything thing about her to stop talking about her. My office (and my city) is filled with people who are die-hard Democrats, people who voted against Hillary in the primaries because she was too conservative. However, these same people seem incapable of getting Sarah Palin off their minds, or out of their conversation. Ever since she was announced as the GOP VP pick, she has been the constant topic of conversation, even when the conversation is overwhelmingly negative. Even if people are simply repeating the same, already-tired jokes about moose hunting and the "failure of abstinence-only education" and whatnot, they can't help but talk about Palin.

Obama seems to have been completely eclipsed on the nation's cultural landscape, something that would have sounded inconceivable as recently as a month ago, and in a race that may simply come down to which candidate has more momentum heading into November, Palin has put the McCain team in the frontrunner's position.

The Palin Bounce

Palin/McCain lead, 50-46% among likely voters, according to Gallup

It's hard not to feel excited about this, the first substantial lead for McCain, although there's certainly a long long way to go. The campaign needs to keep Palin out there and visible, let her shoulder a lot of the load for McCain, keep pressing the experience angle, and start hammering the Dems on economic and energy issues. At this point, it would seem that the race is McCain's to lose, although with the electoral college shaped the way it is, it's still a very, very tight race.

Palin is Not Supposed to be Hillary Clinton!!!

Another day, another self-centered female, liberal columnist writing about how she's no fool, she's not going to be taken in by this "Palin" character masquerading as Hillary Clinton. This time it's Meg Boyle, featured in this morning's AMNY, writing from the Politirazzi blog.

Boyle spouts,

McCain did not pick Palin because she is the right person for the job. Sarah Palin is a gimmick...The Palin pick is directed at independent women like me who come from working class backgrounds. (Italics mine)

No, it's not, Meg. It's actually directed at people like me, conservatives fed up with John McCain's pandering to the left, tired of holding our noses when we vote, overjoyed to finally have at least half a ticket that seems to believe many of the same things we do. And I happen to be male.

It's directed at people like my mother, a woman who believes that abortion is murder, a woman who has preached abstinence-until-marraige to her children, a woman who happily has five guns in her house, who believes in limited government and self-determination.

Sure, Palin's selection is political, but to look at her and see only her gender is to do yourself, and more importantly, her, a huge disservice. It's no wonder women have had such a hard time getting ahead, any time one breaks away from the pack, those who disagree with her start complaining that she only got where she is because of her gender. It couldn't possibly be her qualifications, her truly conservative beliefs, her likability, or her demonstrated ability to get things done.

She then concludes by paraphrasing Lloyd Bentsen,

Nice try. You, Gov. Palin, are no Hillary Clinton.

Well (excuse the profanity, I will almost never employ it here or in life, but...) no shit Meg. If Gov. Palin was Hillary Clinton, she would have been dismissed by the Democrats in the primaries in favor of Barack Obama. If Gov. Palin was Hillary Clinton, she would never have stood a chance of being selected to be John McCain's running mate. Sarah Palin is everything that Hillary Clinton is not. Sarah Palin is trustworthy, sincere, dedicated to her family, pro-life, anti-government waste, and basically the anti-politician. She is nothing like Hillary Clinton, aside from her gender, and that is exactly the reason that she is so beloved among Republicans.

The Dems had their shot to vote for a woman whose policies they support. You chose to nominate Barack Obama instead. That's not the fault of the Republicans.

Like I said yesterday - Meg? Get over yourself.

Sarah Palin Facts

Sarah Palin Facts

Basically a rip-off of the "Chuck Norris Facts" thing, but still earns a hearty "Heh!"

Some of my favorites:

- Ben Linus does Sarah Palin’s bidding
- N. Alaska is sunny half the year and dark half the year because Sarah Palin needed the reading light, then wanted a nap
- Sarah Palin uses French Canadians as bait to catch giant king salmon
- Sarah Palin got Tom Brady pregnant, and then left him
- Sarah Palin will give birth to the man who will lead humanity’s war against the machines

Palin, cont.

A woman, but why this woman?
via Drudge, from the Baltimore Sun

Susan Reimer, a female columnist, echoes many of the sentiments that I've heard ad nauseum since the Palin pick, from female liberal friends, in the papers, around my office, etc., that they're "insulted" by McCain's selection for VP, as if he made the choice solely to appeal to them.

John McCain picked Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska and mother of five, to be his running mate to woo women like me. He seems to think that my girlfriends and I are so disappointed that an utterly qualified woman is not going to be president that we will jump at the chance to vote for an utterly unqualified woman for vice president.

Reimer then goes on to complain:

Does McCain think we will be so grateful for a skirt on the ticket that we won't notice that she's anti-abortion, a member of the NRA and thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution?

Here's a thought, Susan. Maybe McCain actually couldn't care less who you and your girlfriends vote for. Maybe, because you only seem to consider a female candidate truly representative of your gender if she completely agrees with your positions, maybe McCain realizes that you wouldn't vote for him unless he had picked Hillary Clinton to be his running mate. Maybe he's written you off months ago, and he actually chose Sarah Palin as his running mate because she's smart, charismatic, knows energy policy backwards and forwards, because she's pro-life, because she's been a lifelong NRA member, and because she'll appeal to all those millions of women out there who think exactly the opposite of you.

I find it incredibly self-centered and egotistical (which shouldn't really come as a surprise, considering I live and work in New York City, and am therefore surrounded constantly by some of the most self-centered, liberal females in existence) that liberal women can claim to feel insulted that McCain had the nerve to select a woman as his running mate who wasn't a pro-abortion liberal, as if it was the Republicans who chose not to nominate the first pro-abortion woman with an actual shot at winning the presidency. Susan, the Democrats had their shot to nominate a liberal woman. You chose not to. No one is forcing you to vote for McCain/Palin, but to act as if Palin's selection is somehow a personal insult directed at you is moronic. It is a great thing for women everywhere, and to try to cheapen her historic achievement by declaring it illegitimate due to your differences in policy does a much greater disservice to women than John McCain ever could.

Get over yourself.

Sarah Palin: This is the Change I've Been Waiting For!

Here's my two cents:

I love the choice of Sarah Palin for McCain's VP, if for no other reason than it forces the media to divert their attention, at least temporarily, from Obama. However, she also seems to be a tremendous pick in terms of reassuring conservatives that McCain is aware we still exist. Sure, her lack of experience is a potential liability, particularly in the foreign policy vein, but if Obama wants to try to make it an issue, he can't help but come out looking ridiculous, given that he basically has the same lack of experience.

Palin is also tremendously strong on energy policy, and seems to have her head in the right place there, which is obviously going to be one of the most important issues as the weather gets colder. She seems quite charming, very smart, a good communicator, and she makes up a huge portion of the charisma gap that Obama had on McCain.

I love that she hasn't been afraid to take on those members of the Republican Party who give us a bad name, I only pray that her rapid ascension won't dissuade her from continuing to do the same in the future. And I love this.

The choice of Palin injects a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm (not to mention, cash) into the race on the side of conservatives. Finally, we've got someone on the ticket that we can truly be excited about, for whom I can feel proud and confident voting for. This is the change I've been waiting for!

And there will be nothing on this blog with regards to her daughter.